In a press release, Paramount Group announced that the Kazakh Ministry of Defense "is in the final stages of the evaluation of the Barys 8x8 combat vehicle ahead of acceptance into service by the country's armed forces." The vehicle has been conducting 'winter trials' aimed at testing the Barys' performance in frigid conditions.

Barys 8x8 IFV is a variant of Mbombe 8 designed by the Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering (KPE) joint venture, which pairs together South Africa's Paramount Group with Kazakhstan Engineering. The vehicle is modular, allowing for the integration of various weapons systems.

Paramount Group noted, "The winter trials included day and night firing and the Barys 8x8 vehicle was equipped with a Shipunov 2A42 30 mm automatic cannon and a 7.62mm machine gun jointly manufactured by Kazakhstan’s ‘KAE’, which manufactures electro-optic defence equipment and Turkish defence company, Aselsan."

Throughout the testing, temperatures dropped to minus 45 degrees Celsius, according to Johan Delport, the director of the KPE factory in Astana.

Delport stated, "During such conditions every smallest detail and subsystem could be evaluated extensively. Items such as glass heating for de-ice and de-misting, engine heating before starting, batteries, cabin heating, electrical functions, steering, and suspension have been successfully tested. The vehicle performed exceptionally throughout the trials."

According to Paramount Group, the facility in Astana has the capacity to produce up to 200 armored vehicles of various types per year. KPE also produces the Arlan, a variant of Paramount Group's Marauder armored vehicle. The Kazakh military has been procuring the Arlan for use with its military as well as law enforcement.

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